Of course he realized in an instant what had happened. He knew that Merriwell must have climbed out at the top.
"Great Scott!" he thought, "if Frank should know that I brought a fellow up here to see the foolishness, how he would turn the laugh on me."
"Has the thing, whatever it is, vanished?" asked Ford.
"Gone completely!" answered Page in a tone of disappointment. "He must have flown out of the top of the chimney."
Ford got down, too, and looked up.
"Why, yes," he said, "if it was a bird, of course it would get out that way. You ought to have known better than to put a bird in such a place. What was it, a parrot?"
"No, not exactly," said Page. "I guess I won't say what it was until I've made some search for it."
At this moment there was a knock at the door. Page, still on his hands and knees, answered "Come in."
The door opened and in walked Frank Merriwell.